Sebastian Coe’s inexorable journey from middle-distance icon to pace-setter in the world of sports politics faces another test tomorrow when he discovers whether he has been elected as vice-president of athletics’ governing body.

The hero of Britain’s Olympic bid is seeking a place on the International Association of Athletics Federations’ Congress. The president, Lamine Diack, is standing unopposed and will be re-elected, but the subplot is far more fascinating with Coe likely to begin a four-year battle against Sergei Bubka, the legendary Ukrainian pole vaulter, to succeed the Senegalese incumbent.

With eight candidates vying for four vice-president seats, the odds are on Coe and Bubka both winning enough votes when the election for the 46th IAAF Congress takes place in Osaka tomorrow. The pair would then be in prime position to replace Diack when he steps down as president in 2011, a year before the Olympics in London.

Coe has proved himself to be a political animal to winning effect, but it remains to be seen whether he feels he could take on the role as IAAF president while also working as chairman of the local organising committee.

Bubka and Alberto Juantorena, his fellow Olympic veteran from Cuba, have served on the IAAF Council for longer than Coe, and all three can count on securing a lot of votes. Bubka is popular in eastern Europe, Juantorena enjoys South American support and Coe is a rising star whose defiance of the 1990 Olympic boycott has not been forgotten.